Bay fishing rebounds with restoration efforts

Wednesday

Sep 11, 2013 at 10:19 AM

There are more than 115,000 registered boats in Tampa Bay, more than 9,000 acres of new sea grasses have been established since 1988 and the snook population is up since a freeze on its harvest in 2010.

A few days after snook season reopened, Nanette O'Hara of the Tampa Bay Estuary Program made those points and others in a presentation Saturday about "Net Benefits: A Retrospective on Fishing for Food and Fun in Tampa Bay."

Her talk, hosted by Palmetto Historical Park and the Manatee County Agricultural Museum, included a brief history about commercial and sport fishing in the area.

Audience questions varied from avid fisherman to those who just like to eat fish. Concerns included habitat restoration, invasive species and the impact of increased of pollution with continued development in the area.

"It was helpful," Sun City resident Judy Maynard said. "I had no idea about restoring the estuaries."

Covering 400 square miles, a watershed six times as large at 2,200 square miles, and average depth no more than 12 feet, O'Hara explained that whatever people put in their yards ends up in the bay. Because of varied habitats, mangroves to salt barrens and tidal creeks, there are 200 fish species.

After telling the old legend that there were once so many mullet in Tampa Bay people could walk across the bay on the mullets' backs, O'Hara added that there was no thought to conservation.

"They killed everything," she said. "It was pretty much a free for all."

In the 1980s, concerns arose about vanishing fish stocks. Net fishing was banned in 1994, impacting the livelihood of people living in communities like Cortez.

"Cortez was almost wiped out, became obsolete," O'Hara said. "It was the end of a way of life."

With shrimp the No. 1 sea product in Florida, and Manatee County ranked seventh in seafood harvest, Cortez is reinventing itself.

Water quality also continues to improve; O'Hara said it is as good as it was in the 1950s, a "testament to what we've done."

A vintage fishing tackle exhibit will remain on display through Sept. 27 at the park, 515 10th Ave. W., Palmetto. For details, call 721-2034 or 723-4991.